


Two Birds With One Blade

by CalvinPitt



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Action, Don't Post To Another Site, F/M, Not Compliant with Avatar Comics, always maiko time in my house, he's right, mai wants to cut thru the bullshit, no beta we die like jet, unconventional agni kai, zuko thinks mai's great, zuko wants to improve the fire nation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 09:00:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29507277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CalvinPitt/pseuds/CalvinPitt
Summary: When two of Zuko's council are maneuvering to get rid of him, Mai comes up with an unconventional solution. At least it won't be boring (she hopes).
Relationships: Mai/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 72





	Two Birds With One Blade

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender or anything related to it. This is purely for fun.
> 
> I got the idea for this story while reading Chapter 3 of starbunny86's "The Dragon Pox." This story has nothing to do with that story, it's just the reason this exists.
> 
> As the tag says, this is probably not compliant with the ATLA comics. Not because i got anything against them, I'm just pretty sure they don't line up with what I wanted to do. Better safe than sorry.

Fire Lord Zuko knew his goal to make the Fire Nation a better place was not going to be accomplished swiftly. Already in the first year of his reign, that had been made abundantly clear. There were a lot of societal standards, beliefs, and practices that would need to be reformed. Worse, those standards, beliefs, and practices had many devoted adherents who didn’t want them changed.

Ozai would have simply cowed everyone into submission through power and cruelty until they did what he said, or were no longer in any position to object. But if Zuko wanted things in the Fire Nation to change, he felt he must exemplify the new ways. Which meant trying to firmly, but politely, convince others to help implement his plans, while offering them the opportunity to voice their reservations. To move forward together, rather than him forcing it on everyone at bladepoint.

But there were times like today where the temptation to handle things as his father would was a little stronger than normal.

It was another of his regular meetings with his entire council. All the various ministers, the highest-ranking generals and admirals, and a few of the Fire Sages, assembled to discuss recent developments within the Fire Nation as well as ongoing diplomatic efforts with the other nations.

Problems began almost immediately with Admiral Anka, outraged at the Earth Kingdom’s demands that their navy (which he argued barely deserved the name) take over patrolling the waters near Fire Nation colonies within the Earth Kingdom, which did have many Earth Kingdom citizens.

“Their pitiful ships are incapable of providing proper protection from the pirates in those waters!” he shouted, forcefully striking the table with his fist. “During the war, half of their fleet was those same pirates! Are you just going to abandon your loyal citizens, _Fire Lord?_ ”

The man said Zuko’s title in a way that spoke of his belief it was not one the teenager deserved, but Zuko was used to that. One of his officials causing him grief was hardly noteworthy; unfortunately, Minister of Education Goka was also in fine form today, pushing back against Zuko’s proposed reforms to the school system.

“Our schools have produced the finest people on this world for generations, Fire Lord Zuko,” the man said in a nasal drone that, if he used it while teaching students, would undoubtedly put them to sleep. “This new curriculum, with its focus on other cultures will only produce degraded citizens with no pride in their nation!”

“I hardly think we will properly be able to usher in a new era of cooperation and peace between the nations if our schools still teach the children all the other nations are populated by backwards savages,” Zuko struggled to keep his face and tone neutral.

Maintaining his temper was never a strong point. It had gotten easier after the War, and his attempts to address his internal struggles, but it was still a challenge. And where Ozai’s temper had been something to avoid at all costs, Zuko’s was taken as evidence he was too inexperienced and undisciplined to lead.

The Minister scoffed. “I think that is a gross misrepresentation of our schools.”

“I respectfully disagree,” a bored voice said pointedly from Zuko’s left.

“Lady Mai,” Goka said with forced politeness, even as he ignored Mai’s title of “Advisor”, “I’m not certain you possess the experience to make such an assessment."

Mai gave no sign of having noticed the rebuke. “I would point out the Fire Lord, Kyoshi Warrior Ty Lee, and myself are the only three present likely to have attended Fire Nation schools since before _Azulon’s_ reign. We would likely know the content of their teachings better than most.”

Zuko resisted the urge to smirk as the wizened ministers and generals leaned back at the precise jab as though slapped. He certainly heard Ty Lee stifle a giggle from behind his right shoulder.

He was so glad to have Mai as one of his advisors, and in attendance at these meetings. She helped him remain calm by reminding him there was at least one person in his corner (even the ministers he’d been able to appoint at Uncle’s suggestion were wary about throwing full support behind him, just in case he was overthrown.)

She also had a methodical and structured approach, invaluable in devising concrete ways to actually put Zuko’s reforms into practice. (Zuko’s planning skills were still very much a work in progress.)

Beyond that, she could speak the same language of banal pleasantries and hidden meanings (what she called, _“using a thousand words to say absolutely nothing”_ ) that Zuko never had the patience to master as a child. She hated using it as much as he did, but she was good at it, nonetheless.

He did wish sometimes she sat on his right, where she was less blurred in his vision and hearing, but he knew she sat on his left precisely _because_ she was protecting that side for him. And he didn’t need perfect vision to know she sat there, back straight, hands hidden within the sleeves of her robe and folded in front of her on the table, face a perfect mask Goka had no chance of breaking.

“Lady Mai,” Goka began, too foolish to know when to quit, “I don’t believe the Fire Lord attended a Fire Nation school.”

“Are you implying the Fire Lord received a less-exemplary education than our citizens?” To most of those at the table, Mai’s voice suggested cold indignence. Zuko could hear the playful smirk in it. While Goka sputtered and tried to recover, Mai discreetly flicked a report from beneath her sleeves to slide to a stop where Zuko’s hand rested on the table. He scanned it quickly and allowed himself a smile.

“Minister Goka, we also have a report from Avatar Aang that he briefly attended a Fire Nation school prior to the eclipse, and encountered numerous inaccuracies being taught about Air Nomads and their culture.”

The Minister’s mouth opened and closed like a beached hippopotamus bass. Admiral Anka seized this opportunity to take control of the meeting. “What about leaving our people reliant on those earthbenders for protection?!”

“Admiral,” Zuko began, remembering going over this prior to the meeting, “the agreed plan is joint patrols by Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom vessels, until their ships are confident they can handle things. Then a gradual reduction of our presence.”

Anka sneered. “It still boils down to you leaving our people to be sacrificed on the altar of your cowardice. Even as you undermine the Fire Nation by weakening our children. I will not carry out such an order.”

Zuko put on his most authoritative tone. “Then I call on you to resign your commission.”

Anka glared back, jutting his jaw out aggressively. “It would be a stain on my honor to abandon the people I swore to serve. I challenge you to an Agni Kai at midday!”

Zuko sighed internally. Well, he hadn’t fought one of his generals or ministers in an Agni Kai in over a month.

_‘Wouldn’t want to get out of practice.’_ “If you insist Admiral, I acce –“

Now Minister Goka stood up, “Admiral Anka is correct! Your orders bring disgrace on the Fire Nation, and I refuse to carry out these changes! Your suggestion that our teachings are wrong is an attack on my honor an educator! I challenge you to an Agni Kai at forty-five degrees past midday!”

Zuko blinked, trying to process this. Anka and Goka rarely worked together during Ozai’s reign, caught up in the same cycle of toadying and vying for favors as the others (like Mai’s father, or in a sense, Zuko for that matter). So Zuko expected the Admiral to be annoyed the Minister was seemingly trying to take advantage by plotting to fight Zuko when he was already tired from one Agni Kai. Yet Anka seemed pleased by this.

Well, Zuko couldn’t afford to refuse. The remora-vultures were always circling, looking for weakness. “Very well, I – “

“Do you think the Fire Lord has nothing better to do than fight Agni Kais all day?” Mai said flatly. “Admiral Anka, Minister Goka, you are the two remaining heads of the Sanshoo family, correct?”

Both men nodded, and now Zuko could see the resemblance. Anka’s face was more filled out, while Goka looked like a man who lived off three grains of rice a day, but the eyes and the jawline were extremely similar.

“If the Fire Lord has disrespected both of you, then he has disrespected your entire house, correct?”

Both men nodded, and Zuko resisted the urge to cackle. Mai was setting them up for something, he just knew it, and he couldn’t wait. Maybe she’d convince them they needed to fight each other to decide who got to defend their family hon – 

“Then let us accelerate the whole process, and have both of you fight the Fire Lord at once.”

* * *

Total silence reigned in the council chambers after Mai’s statement. All the ministers, generals, and Fire Sages sat stunned. Even Anka and Goka’s mouths hung slightly slack until the Admiral collected himself.

“I’m sorry, Lady Mai, perhaps I misheard?”

“The Fire Lord is a busy man, who has better things to do than fighting fire duels against thin-skinned old men,” she replied as though describing the weather.

The thin-skinned men in question both glowered, but she continued unconcerned, “so fight him together. You’re defending the same family honor, you might as well defend it as a family.”

Fire Sage Ashi spoke hesitantly, “Advisor Mai, that is. . . highly unorthodox. There are no records of a person fighting two opponents simultaneously in an Agni Kai.”

Zuko would have nodded vigorously at this, except he was too busy racking his brain for what he might have done to piss Mai off. Forgot an anniversary? No, Mai usually didn’t care about things like that. Was it that Earth Kingdom diplomat who had been flirting with him last week when they were supposed to be negotiating a new trade deal on grain? No, Mai would have just thrown a knife at him (however annoyed she might have been, she wouldn’t make Zuko’s life harder by attacking a foreign diplomat.)

Mai gave an exaggerated sigh. “Very well. What if the Fire Lord is allowed a partner?”

Sage Ashi blinked. “A partner?”

“Yes. Someone who is willing to place their own honor at stake to defend the Fire Lord’s. If it helps, think of it as two Agni Kais, happening simultaneously.”

“In the same arena?”

“Obviously.”

The Sages conferred briefly. Ashi answered for them. “We know of no law which says this cannot take place, assuming all parties find it acceptable. Admiral Anka, Minister Goka, would you agree to this?”

The brothers exchanged a glance. Goka answered, “What if the Fire Lord, regrettably, cannot find a partner?”

“If he agrees to this, _unusual_ duel, and is unable to find a partner, the Fire Lord would be forced to fight alone.”

Goka was all false deference. “Well, I am certain our Fire Lord has no shortage of people willing to stand beside him, so my brother and I have no objections.”

Zuko could see what they were thinking. His uncle was in Ba Sing Se. Aang was in the colonies, working with Katara to try and smooth tensions there. Zuko wasn’t certain he would trust any of the ministers he’d appointed to hold up in an Agni Kai. As for his guards, well, there was a reason the Kyoshi Warriors were handling his security.

Ashi turned to Zuko. “My Lord?”

The brothers had good reason to think Zuko was on his own, and probably figured he wasn’t thinking it through. That he would just rashly agree and only realize his mistake when it was too late.

That just proved they were further behind than he was. Zuko trusted Mai. She had a plan. He nodded firmly as he stood, staring down the two brothers without fear. “I accept. We’ll duel at midday. The remainder of this meeting will be postponed until tomorrow. You are all dismissed.”

* * *

Agni shone down on the arena, nearing his highest point in the sky. The Sanshoo brothers stood at their end of the raised platform, awaiting the arrival of their opponents. Despite less than three hours elapsing between the challenge being issued and the actual duel, the room was packed with ministers, military men and assorted gentry, always eager for spectacle. Even a few servants slipped in, worried for their Fire Lord (who was much kinder and more polite than his last several predecessors, and who they would prefer ruled for as many decades as possible.)

Just before midday peak, the double doors at the other end swung open and Zuko strode in, loose cloak draped over his shoulders, Ty Lee and Suki in their Kyoshi Warrior garb flanking him. As he reached the edge of the arena, they split off, taking positions in front of pillars on either side of the door. Zuko stepped into the arena alone.

“It would appear you were unable to find anyone willing to defend your honor, Fire Lord Zuko,” Anka called smugly. 

“Hardly surprising, considering how tarnished it is by his past cowardice and treason,” his brother agreed.

The flames in the braziers around the room shot higher for just a moment, but the young Fire Lord’s expression was completely relaxed when he spoke. “I didn’t have to _find_ anyone, Admiral Anka. Someone volunteered by the time you and your brother left the chamber.”

“My apologies for our tardiness,” Mai said, stepping from the shadowed hallway through the door, a robe identical to the Fire Lord’s flowing loosely around her as she approached, the Fire Sages trailing behind her.

She stepped into the arena next to Zuko, letting the cape fall away. As was custom, the three men wore nothing but their breeches, tied at the knees. Mai wore the same, as well a cloth binding across her chest, and an impressive array of holsters, belts, and bandoliers for her knives, darts, and shuriken.

An excited murmur rushed through the crowd at this development. Though there had been no official engagement or proclamation, it was generally accepted the young Fire Lord and his Advisor were in a relationship. That hadn’t stopped other suitors from making their play, but they were all extremely careful to wait until Mai was far, far away before attempting it. She had defied Princess Azula for the Fire Lord, after all.

(That story had somehow spread across the nation, possibly the world. Mai figured it was the war prisoners at the Boiling Rock who did it once Zuko released them. Zuko one night vowed, overly dramatically Mai thought, that if there was ever a play of written about it, the Ember Island Players were forbidden to perform.)

So the notion she would now fight a duel alongside Zuko, for his honor, no less? Well, this was the sort of thing the gossip mill would thrive on for months. Goka protested, “She is no firebender!”

Zuko responded pointedly. “Since when is a lack of firebending equal to a lack of honor?”

“Even though it has been several decades since the last occurrence, it is well-established that non-benders may participate in Agni Kais,” Fire Sage Ashi stated plainly.

Anka began to speak, and Ashi continued, loudly enough so all could hear, “We have already checked all of Lady Mai’s weapons for the presence of poison or drugs, which is why we were tardy. This was at her insistence, I might add.”

Zuko had greatly enjoyed that whole scene. The Fire Sages’ nervous reaction to how many weapons Mai normally carried had been priceless. And it was a lot more than what she wore currently, since she had to leave behind the ones concealed in pouches and sleeves in her loose robes. “Do you have any other objections?”

“I would tell you we won’t humiliate you too badly,” Mai sounded entirely disinterested, “but I can’t be bothered to lie.”

The brothers’ expressions darkened in tandem. Anka roared, “That you’d allow your affection for this woman to blind you to her weakness is only proof of your unfitness to rule!”

Zuko’s fist clenched, but. . . “Breathe. Stay calm. Don’t be an idiot.”

He chuckled. Mai’s calm voice was a gentle breeze that washed away his temper. “You’re right. Let’s go.”

All participants took their stances. Ashi raised his arm.

“Begin!”

* * *

The duel had been going for several minutes, and the Fire Lord and Lady Mai seemed clearly in control. At first glance, the Sanshoo brothers did not appear to have any semblance of teamwork. They kept as much of the ring between them as possible, and their attacks seemed uncoordinated. Admiral Anka focused entirely on Zuko, punching out blast after blast of fire while circling to Zuko’s right, while his brother offered only the occasional attack. While Anka was a strong bender compared to most, his flame (and technique) paled next to Zuko’s, who defended each attack with minimal effort. Anka sweated heavily, while the Fire Lord looked to have hardly exerted himself.

(A few young officers present, who somehow survived the Siege of the North, thought the way he used a small amount of flame to gently push Anka’s attacks off-course, rather than simply meeting them, strength for strength, bore a resemblance to waterbending. A few older audience members, who remembered the days before Sozin emphasized only one kind of firebending, recalled more graceful forms thought lost.)

And yet, there was a strategy to the Admiral’s actions. He and Goka hadn’t expected to be able to work together. The original plan was for Anka to fight first, and exhaust the Fire Lord for his brother’s duel. It was known the young man was too soft to actually kill his opponents, as none of those who challenged him previously received more than light burns. (Even that imbecile Zhao didn’t get himself killed.) Goka would win, but Anka and his wife and children would be right there to reap the benefits as well.

But when Agni offers a gift turkey-horse, one doesn’t question it. Anka was the unquestionably stronger bender between himself and his brother, while Goka was more precise. It was strongly suspected the Fire Lord’s vision and hearing were impaired on his left side, though he did all he could to disguise it. If Anka could draw all the boy’s attention as far right as possible, Goka could move freely in that blind spot, and land the finishing blow.

(Whether the soon-to-be ex-Fire Lord survived or not was immaterial. He would be in no condition to stop them and their allies from seizing power.)

That had been the plan they devised in the three hours available. To Goka’s frustration, it wasn’t working. Because Goka couldn’t reach the Fire Lord’s blind spot. Every time he thought the Fire Lord’s attention was fully on his brother, the woman was there. She was judicious with her limited throwing weapons, saving them for those moments. She hadn’t wounded him yet, but kept throwing off his attacks. Goka would go to punch a fire blast, only to have to retract his arm to avoid a dagger whistling through the space it was going to occupy.

The Education Minister tried to close in, take away her long-range advantage. If he could just eliminate her, the plan could proceed. She ducked as the Fire Lord spun on one foot, his other sending a long trail of fire out from a roundhouse kick. Goka barely raised enough fire to defend himself, stumbling back. He rolled to his left to avoid another fire blast. Across the ring, he could see Anka try to seize the initiative, only to be forced to dive right to avoid several daggers.

* * *

Mai watched their opponents fall hastily on the defensive as she and Zuko began to attack more frequently. Things were going pretty much as she expected. How dull. Then again she’d been preparing for this since she overhearing a two ministers’ wives discussing the Sanshoo brothers’ plan a few weeks ago at yet another excruciatingly boring social gala put on to honor (meaning: kiss up to) their Fire Lord.

(The only reason she attended those events was gossipy spouses and drunk old men were a great source of information on potential threats to Zuko. Her mother’s training about keeping your eyes and ears open for others’ weaknesses, while revealing none of your own, paying off in a way other than staying in Azula’s good graces.)

Mai studied their styles, their personalities, their histories. Ozai was a scumbag and they’d all be better off with him dead, but he’d kept an extensive collection of intelligence on all the fools sucking up after him. One no one bothered to burn after his and Azula’s defeat, and therefore free for Mai to use.

(There was a scroll on her father, not that it told Mai anything she didn’t already know about the man on some level.)

She and Zuko agreed to let the brothers wear themselves out, then herd them together for the finale. It wasn’t hard. Zuko was a stronger and more skilled bender than either of them, and it was child’s play for Mai to disrupt their attacks with a well-placed dagger. She’d seen Azula and Zuko practice these same forms when they were children (and perform them better, frankly.) She knew where each arm or leg was going to be ahead of time.

Still, she only had so many daggers, and Zuko hadn’t slept well last night, so there was no point in dragging it out.

_‘They’re almost in position. Time to finish it, I guess.’_

Mai switched with Zuko again, throwing a dart that sent Anka rolling to his right. She crouched and twisted as Zuko stepped forward beside her, punching a flame blast over her head at the soon-to-be ex-Admiral, keeping him off-balance. She threw a dart at Goka from the space Zuko’s leg occupied a second before. The soon-to-be ex-Education Minister wasn’t expecting it, and it caught him in mid-attack.

The dart struck his shoulder at a chi point, and his arm went limp instantly. The fire blast he was preparing reduced to a puff of smoke as the limb flopped uselessly at his side. She was pretty sure she heard Ty Lee squeal in delight.

(That was why Mai had the Sages inspect her weapons and proclaim they were free of drugs and poisons. She wasn’t giving these idiots any excuses to use against Zuko when they lost.)

Two more fire blasts from Zuko and a few more daggers from Mai, and the brothers were side by side.

“Do you wish to admit defeat?” Zuko asked.

“Never!” Goka wrenched out the dart with his other hand, but it would take time for any bending or movement to return.

“Fine by me.” Mai didn’t expect them to take the offer. Frankly, she hoped they wouldn’t, even if she knew Zuko would prefer to end this with less violence. She stepped to the forefront and hurled five shuriken at the pair.

Both brothers took a firm stance, backs pressed against each other, and raised their arms skyward (or arm, in Goka’s case). A wall of flame dense enough to deflect her blades formed between the four combatants, stretching from one side of the arena to another.

“Face the Flame Wave of the Sanshoo family!’ Mai rolled her eyes. Did they really name it? Like they’re the only ones to ever make a wall of flame. She checked during their research and there was no record their family created the technique. With an (unnecessary, in her opinion) yell, the brothers punched their arms forward and the wave advanced on her and Zuko.

Mai calmly spun to her left on the ball of one foot and Zuko leapt into the space she vacated, both arms raised above his head, palms flat against each other. Planting his feet firmly, he took a deep breath and brought his arms straight down, a long blade of fire (flecks of greens, purples and bright reds visible) emerging from his hands like a huge scimitar. It cleaved through the “flame wave” (about as much a wave as Tom-Tom made in the bathtub, Mai would say) and pushed it to either side of them as Zuko’s arms split apart and swept behind him as though he was swimming, a lengthy flame sword now extending from each hand.

Anka and Goka gawked in shock. A similar awed rush went through the crowd. Mai barely noticed, diving between Zuko’s legs to slide across the smooth tiles towards them. Her right hand extended and 9 darts flew from it. The outside of both legs of Anka’s breeches were caught by three darts each, and another one each on the inside of the leg. Plus one at the groin for good measure.

The darts pulled Anka clean off the stage and embedded in the pillar on one side of the door he and his brother entered through. The man barely had time to react as his upper body fell forward and he tore free of his pants, crashing to the floor gracelessly. The impact of his head against the ground knocked him unconscious.

_‘One down.’_

* * *

Goka saw his brother’s humiliation play out in slow-motion. He turned back, snarling. The girl’s slide left her well away from the Fire Lord’s protection, flat on the ground like a flounder-slug. Even with one arm, he could burn her with a single attack. Then, when the Fire Lord lost his composure and ran to check on her, Goka would win easily.

He raised his good arm (he didn’t care what the Fire Sages said, she must have poisoned those darts somehow, but he’d have his revenge), fist clenched, and stepped forward, preparing to punch a fire blast into her plain, dull face.

(He supposed with the Fire Lord looking as he did, he had to take what he could get in terms of lovers.)

* * *

Mai watched Goka process what happened to Anka, then finally recognize she was there on the floor. 

_‘Took him long enough.’_

Goka took a confident step forward. He definitely thought he had things figured out. Right up until he stepped on the shuriken Mai threw at his feet with her _left_ hand, while the right was busy eliminating Anka. Two of its points were embedded in the tile. The other two went into the man’s foot.

His shriek of pain gave Mai a headache as it echoed around the chambers. On the plus side, watching him hop around on one foot while clutching at his injury with his one working arm was amusing. She was pretty sure she’d seen a hog-monkey in Omashu that got into fermented berries do that dance once. Or maybe that was Sokka at the post-coronation party.

Zuko rushed past, jumping into the air and kicking a dual-footed fire blast at his ex-Minister. With no firm base, and only one arm, Goka’s hasty defense was shattered easily. The attack sent him sailing off the raised floor, crashing into the pillar opposite the one where his brother ended up. He slid to the floor, groaning.

Fire Sage Ashi raised his arm. “Fire Lord Zuko and Advisor Mai are proclaimed winners!”

* * *

Zuko stood at the edge of the arena as the crowd filed out, chattering among themselves excitedly. He watched as the guards lifted the brothers on stretchers. He wouldn’t turn his back on them until they were gone. Zhao taught him that.

“Consider yourselves relieved of your positions, effective immediately.” He kept his voice even. No hint of satisfaction, relief, or anything else. Simply a Fire Lord carrying out his duty. “I will have your personal effects removed from your offices and sent to your homes this evening.”

Only once Anka and Goka were gone did he risk turning away, offering his hand to Mai to help her up. Except she was already standing, looking down at his hand in amusement.

“Sorry, didn’t know I was supposed to wait for your big pronouncement to finish.” Her arms were folded across her chest, gold eyes alive with humor. 

He ran the hand through his hair awkwardly. “Whoops. Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

* * *

“That was so great, you guys!” Ty Lee came hurtling onto the platform, Suki following at a more sedate pace, and wrapped her arms around Mai, smushing their cheeks together. “You chi-blocked! I knew you could do it!”

Mai wriggled a little, though not nearly as much as she could have. She patted her friend gently on the back. “Thanks. Ty Lee, I’m pretty sweaty, you’re probably smearing your make-up.”

Her friend pulled back, studying Mai’s face. “Oops. You’re right. But your aura is so bright! It’s so –“

“Don’t say pink.”

“Of course not!” her friend said, mildly offended. “It’s that deep red it gets when you had fun doing something exciting!”

“How silly of me,” she replied drily as she stepped back.

“Good job, you two,” Suki said firmly. “Or should I say, excellent work, Fire Lord Zuko and Royal Advisor Mai?”

She added a deep bow for emphasis, and Zuko laughed. “You don’t need to bother with that Suki.”

The Kyoshi leader immediately dropped the formal attitude. She smiled slyly. “Well, I wouldn’t want to get crosswise of Mai for being disrespectful to you. I liked that last move, splitting their attack.”

Ty Lee nodded. “I don’t think I’d ever seen you do that before!”

“It’s something he based off his sword-fighting,” Mai answered as she roamed the arena, collecting her weapons from the floor and walls. “I’ve seen him do the same move with his dao.”

Suki raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

When the Fire Lord didn’t respond, Suki turned to him. Zuko was watching Mai as she moved around the room with the sort of single-minded focus Suki had seen him devote to facing each new problem or crisis that came up since he became Fire Lord.

Ty Lee observed him closely for a moment, then leaned and whispered in her ear. Suki straightened up, “If you don’t need us, Ty Lee and I will go get something to eat. Our replacements will meet you at your quarters, if that’s all right?”

* * *

“Hmm? Oh sure,” Zuko replied, barely aware of his two friends leaving quickly. All his attention was on Mai as she pulled the darts she used to defeat Anka from the pillar. She’d thrown them, with perfect accuracy, hard enough to pull a grown man over ten feet, yet she removed them with ease. The firm, lean muscles in her shoulders and arm moving beneath her skin smoothly. 

All her movements, so controlled, yet graceful, different from the grace Ty Lee or Aang might demonstrate. Not as immediately obvious, but there all the same. Beneath the surface, if you knew where to look.

“You want to keep his pants as a trophy?” She asked. He said nothing. “You just made history in the first, what would Toph call it? Tag-team Agni Kai. We could tell the Sages to save them in the catacombs.”

Zuko didn’t respond. He couldn’t help it. Couldn’t stop thinking about great it felt to fight alongside her. They’d sparred many times, her knives against either his fire or his swords. And there’d been one frantic thwarting of an assassination attempt in the middle of the night a few months ago. But this was the first time he really had a chance to work with her properly, and he loved it. He almost wished there were two of him, so one Zuko could have sat in the audience and watched.

(Although, depending on what he heard the audience say about Mai, he might have challenged a few of them to Agni Kais himself. He knew people wondered what he saw in her. Thought she was gloomy, unfriendly, plain, boring. He’d heard all those whispered.

They just didn’t get it. Didn’t see her intelligence, her wit, her bravery, her smile, her strength. Sometimes he wished everyone could see her like he could. Other times he was glad he was one of the few who got to see her that way.)

She turned around to see him still standing in the ring, staring at her intently. “Are you all right? We don’t need a healer, do we?”

He shook his head. “No. No, I’m fine.”

Slight rise in one eyebrow. “Alright. So, memorial pants? Keep or not?”

He shook his head again, summoned a small flame. Mai stepped out of the way, and he quickly incinerated the offending fabric. She joined him back on the raised floor.

“How long did you have this planned?” he asked.

“A few weeks,” she admitted. “You were busy with the plan for assistance to farmers. There wasn’t any reason to bother you with it until now. Everything other than the actual Agni Kai I could handle myself.”

He knew she’d also been working on the education reform plan recently, and yet she still found time to out-maneuver two problems at once. “Oh. Well, thanks.”

She folded her arms in front of her, hands making the shape of the Flame, and bowed slightly. “It is, of course, my honor to serve the Fire Lord.”

She sighed as she stood up straight. “Too bad it was so boring. If I could have gotten them to challenge me, I would have handled it alone, completely. They really weren’t worth both of us.”

Zuko shook his head. “I’m glad we got to fight together. It was fun. It felt good.”

One corner of her mouth lifted in amusement. “Was that last attack even necessary? Goka would have hopped his way out if you gave him a second.”

Zuko laughed. “I couldn’t let you be the only one looking cool.”

That corner of her mouth lifted a little more. The other end might have joined it. “Are you sure you don’t mean flameo?”

He shook his head firmly, a few strands coming loose from his topknot to fall across his forehead. “Absolutely not.”

Really, “cool” was an understatement. Mai had been glorious, the way she moved so fluidly in concert with him, all her attacks exactly where she intended them.

_‘Like a fox-falcon soaring gracefully in the sky, then moving instantly into a dive that takes the prey before it even knows what’s happening,’_ he thought. _‘Oh, or maybe her knives are more like a pack of armadillo-wolves, hounding and steering their prey right into the trap hole one of them has dug up ahead. Or maybe -’_

_‘He’s thinking in dramatic line readings again.’_ Mai knew that spaced-out, slightly dopey smile on his face. She would deny it publicly, but she loved it. Every bit of the shy, awkward boy that pushed her in the fountain trying to save her that had survived his father’s attempts to snuff it out, she loved.

“What play are you reciting in your head right now?”

Zuko startled, blinking rapidly a couple of times. “Uh, none actually. I was trying to describe how you move when you fight.” He clasped one of her hands. “Nothing compared.”

Mai rolled her eyes, but couldn’t stop the reddish hue that tinted her cheeks. “Sounds like more proof our education system needs work.”

He chuckled, a low, throaty sound that sent tremors through her. Combined with the way those golden eyes of his were burning into her, and her proximity to his shirtless, glistening chest, Mai felt dangerously close to doing something reckless and impulsive.

“As I recall, Fire Lord Zuko, you cleared your schedule of everything until tomorrow morning.”

Zuko’s heartbeat raced. To most people, Mai would have sounded disinterested, but to Zuko, the intensity of her gaze, the energy coiled up inside her, was so easy to read. His eyes flickered over her slender neck and across her shoulders before drifting further down, lingering on her chest and toned stomach.

He found the capacity for speech somewhere. “That’s correct. We could put that time to good use.”

Mai nodded. “I agree completely. We should discuss replacements for Anka and Goka. I know Iroh made an extensive list of people he thought trustworthy in the military, but most of his suggestions trend older. I think we could use more youth in leadership roles.”

Zuko blinked. “Um, OK. I, I guess we could do that.” He tried to hide his disappointment.

Then Mai was wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling him close, and Zuko wanted to tear all those bandoliers and belts she was wearing off immediately, along with everything else.

“But before that, I think we can take some time to clean up and relax a little, don’t you?”

His hands found their way to her hips, holding her firmly. “I think that’s a very wise suggestion, Lady Mai. We should definitely do that first.”

She whispered in his ear, “It is, of course, my honor to serve the Fire Lord.”

“Considering you just fought an Agni Kai for it, I think my honor belongs to you,” he said in a matching whisper.

“That and everything else,” she agreed.

**Author's Note:**

> I know, I know, if you're going to do a tag team thing, the natural choice is Toph. Well, maybe next time, assuming anyone would be stupid enough to take the bait ever again. If they did, I'm sure Toph would demand to be involved, although she might make Zuko sit out and team-up with Mai herself. You know Zuko wouldn't object.


End file.
